


How long I have wanted

by epersonae



Series: Aftermath [26]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Also I'm as surprised as you are that Barry turned up, F/F, F/M, I thought it was going to PWP but they got away from me, Magnus is here for like 5 seconds, Multi, Porn with Feelings, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 20:51:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13888908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epersonae/pseuds/epersonae
Summary: Drinks, karaoke, a walk on the beach. Lucretia and Lup -- and later, Barry -- deal with their feelings after all this time.





	How long I have wanted

**Author's Note:**

> For TAZ Poly Week!
> 
> Part of the [Aftermath](http://archiveofourown.org/series/777300) continuity. This follows the events of Friends for Life, in which Mavis and Lup conspire to take Lucretia out for karaoke at Chesney’s. Could you read this without that? Maybe? I wouldn't, though. Also very obliquely refers to Back in the Zone. 
> 
> Karaoke songs: Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics and Alone by Heart. The latter is also the source of the title.

Lucretia stands in front of a crowd, belting out a song at the top of her lungs, doing fantasy karaoke for the first time since — for sure since they've been in this plane. And this song, it's one she sings sometimes when she's alone in her office that reminds her of difficult times, finding her own strengths, making her way to where she is now. She has it memorized end to end. Feels good to sing it with an audience. 

Then when Lup sings…. The overlaps between planes are a mysterious phenomenon. The last time she remembers they did this together, trying to get the light while incognito, in a place where women ruled, so they'd left the guys back on the Starblaster. 

Lup had sung this very song to her like this then: impassioned and flirty, like she was the only woman in the universe. It's as heady now as it had been then. 

Lup is as beautiful now as she had been then. 

//

After they send Mavis home, Lucretia throws her arm around Lup. 

“Mmmmm, missed you. Wanna go make out.”

“You're drunk, Luce.”

“Am not. Only had two. No wait, three. Hold on…. Well shit. S’like old times then, get blazed with Taako, get drunk with Lu.”

Lup laughs despite herself and kisses Lucretia on the cheek. But Lucretia grabs her face with both hands and stares her down.

“This face too old for you now, Lu? Not your pretty little girl anymore?”

“You know I always had a thing for those mature nerds,” Lup replied. “We'll get you a little sobered up and then I'll show you how beautiful I think you are.”

Lucretia takes a drink of water, frowning at the glass. 

“Magnus has a cup makes you sober if you put water in it.”

“No kidding.”

She sighs. 

“I still like kissing him,” she says, staring off into the distance. 

“Am I supposed to be surprised?” Lup says with a twinkle in her eye. 

“Aw, don't make fun.” Another sigh, more wistful. “Miss kissing you, Lu.”

“That's what you said.”

Lucretia looks around Chesney’s. They're about the last ones there. 

Lup says, “How about I walk you home? Maybe we'll see about that kiss?”

She leans into Lup. 

“One kiss now, though?”

Lup leans over and taps her own cheek with one finger, but Lucretia plants a kiss right on her lips. Lup pulls back, startled but smiling. 

“Mmmmm, pineapple.” And Lucretia licks her lips. 

//

They step out onto the single quiet lane of Bottlenose Cove. The stars are brilliant. She grabs Lup’s arm as she looks up. Lup is warm, sturdy. Lup is so close. She’s so glad that Lup is back.

“Wanna walk home the long way?” Lup asks. “Walk along the beach?”

She looks back from the stars to Lup and she's staring, she's definitely staring at Lup like it was the first week of training and she's entirely in awe. She's still a little bit in awe of Lup.

“Babe?”

Lucretia realizes she hasn't said anything.

“Yes, I'd, yes, I'd like to.”

They walk to the stairs that lead from the town down to the beach, a long flight of wooden steps, almost more ladder then stair. Lucretia grabs the railing tight, her other arm still linked with Lup's. 

She wobbles for a second on the first step, between drunkenness and her trick knee and, well, Lup, who she can't quite look away from. 

“You alright, babe? We can just walk back the other way, or I could use my scythe….”

“No no no, I'm fine, really. Just, uh….” She looks up again, feeling the rough wood under her hand, Lup's warmth against her side. “The moon?”

Lup's eyes follow hers and her mouth curls in a smile. 

“Moons, even,” she says. “Look, Lu, your moon is full. And it's so pretty.”

Lucretia sucks in a breath. The mild breeze from the ocean tastes of salt.

It takes all of her concentration to make it down the stairs, one hand on the railing, the other tucked into Lup’s arm. She's just  _ aware  _ of Lup’s presence, her warmth, the way she smells like smoke and pineapple. The beach and the waves both glitter in the moonlight. Lup’s eyes reflect the light too; if Lucretia kept her gaze focused on Lup's face, the way she wants to, she'd tumble down all those stairs, she's sure of it. 

So she keeps her eyes on the horizon and slowly descends with Lup to the beach. 

//

Their footsteps on the sand are the only sound aside from the waves. Lup stops and puts her hands on Lucretia's cheeks. She runs her fingers over Lucretia's forehead, touches her eyelids, smooths over the faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. 

“You're beautiful, Lu,” she murmurs, and Lucretia turns her head with an uneasy expression, but Lup forces her back, running a thumb over her jawline. “More beautiful, I think.”

“But Lup….” All the aching want and doubt fill her voice in those two words.

“Shhhh,” and Lup puts two fingers over her lips. “You don't get to argue this one, babe.”

Then she pulls Lucretia close with a hand on the small of her back. Lucretia, aroused, flustered, doesn't know where to put her hands, eventually settles on Lup's hips. 

“I missed kissing you too, Lucy-lu.”

She drags her fingers across Lucretia's lips. Lucretia sucks in a sharp breath, then her tongue darts out to lick at Lup's fingertips. Lup presses, gently, and Lucretia sucks on her fingers. 

Lup hums softly, removes her fingers from Lucretia's mouth. With one hand, Lup pulls up Lucretia's tunic, gathering it up out of the way of her other hand. The fingers Lucretia has been sucking slip under the waistband of her leggings. Lucretia gasps as Lup’s fingers slip between her thighs, slowly pressing, exploring. Almost involuntarily she pulls Lup’s hips closer. 

Lup leans in, then, kisses her, her hot open mouth tasting of liquor and pineapple and salt air, even as she continues to stroke Lucretia’s clit and lips. Lucretia moans into the kiss, whimpers Lup’s name like a forgotten prayer. She can feel Lup smile. 

Lup pulls out of the kiss, rests her cheek against Lucretia's. Lucretia can feel her heartbeat, feel Lup’s breasts pressing against her own. She can hear Lup’s breathing close, closer than they've been since…. 

Just as her thoughts try to wander to difficult topics, Lup crooks her fingers, her other hand still pressing on the small of Lucretia’s back. A little  _ oh _ escapes her. 

“Nice,” murmurs Lup. “I gotta lay you out and do this properly.”

A wave of heat washes over Lucretia at the thought, from the top of her head down to where her cunt throbs around Lup’s fingers. 

“Yeah Lu, should we do that? Find a bed, throw up a little Silence and then really go to town?”

“Oh Lup,” is all she can manage. 

“There's so many things I've….” Lup laughs low and hungry. She kisses Lucretia again, harder, more tongue. Her fingers speed up. 

“Probably not here, though,” says Lucretia with a weak chuckle. Her fingers dig into Lup’s hips. 

“True enough,” Lup replies, bringing her hand out of Lucretia's leggings, letting go of her back and her tunic. She licks her fingers, hums, winks, before linking her arm in Lucretia's and starting them walking again. 

The light of two full moons glints off of the sea. 

//

They walk down the beach, arms interlocking. Lucretia remembers another beach, Lup dragging her out of bed in the middle of the night to walk and look at the stars. Walking, the two of them, and aching with unspoken longing. Even when they kissed, even when they went to each other's beds, her longing still felt unspoken. 

Surely she's too old, it's been too long, to have that feeling again. And yet. 

“You're worrying, Lucy,” says Lup. “You don't have to worry so much.” She squeezes Lucretia’s arm tight. “Not about me, babe.”

She opens her mouth to say something, realizes she doesn't know  _ what,  _ and sighs. 

Lup stops walking and bumps Lucretia's hip. 

“C’mon babe, I see you fretting. Out with it.” She looks at Lucretia with a faint frown clouding her face. “Are you worried about Barry? If you're worried about Bear….”

There's something in Lup’s expression, then, something familiar from so long ago. A flush that spreads across her cheeks, visible even in the moonlight. She looks down and away with a quirk of a smile. 

Lucretia feels an entirely new, and yet familiar, wave of excitement. Those few moments of going to  _ their _ bed, those moments of feeling included. Those moments too unspoken. “Lup. You're blushing.” 

“I mean, we've…. Y’know. We talk, yeah?”

Her head spins and maybe a little of that is from drinking but mostly not. She sighs Lup's name. 

“I never….” Words feel awkward in Lucretia's mouth, prickly and strange. “I assumed — you, but not —”

“Is it okay? I didn't want to be, y’know, weird?”

Lucretia laughs, stares out at the sea. 

“Oh Lup, dear, all of it is weird. No getting around that.”

She looks again at Lup, the flush under her freckles, her ears perked forward. Lup's fingers drum nervously on Lucretia's forearm. 

“I'm greedy, Lu,” says Lup. “I was alone for so long, and now I want…. Everything. All of it.” She pulls Lucretia close and kisses her cheek. “I've been meaning to…. But I know you were working it out with Maggie, and I know you were” — she winces momentarily — “I was afraid you were still angry with us….”

Lucretia's laugh is deep, rueful; she presses her forehead against Lup’s. 

“And I assumed,” Lucretia says, “of course, because Taako, that Barry too, and you as well…. We certainly haven't talked, he and I, except for maybe five minutes at Candlenights.” She's still laughing, just a little. “We haven't learned  _ anything _ , have we?”

“We could learn  _ now _ ,” says Lup, pressing up against her, warm in the mild summer evening. Her lips are almost on Lucretia’s. “That might be fun, I bet. Right babe?”

Lucretia gives her a tiny tender kiss. 

//

When they approach the manor, the whole house is dark. They can't keep their hands off of each other, even as they walk across the big lawn that opens up in front of the front porch. Lup is laughing, trying futilely to grab Lucretia for tickles. 

For a second, they both stand silent and look at the sprawling bulk of the house.

Lup pulls her toward the back door. Lucretia readies a Knock spell, but it isn't locked. 

The kitchen is dim and empty, a few dishes in the sink. The back hall and the stairs up are dark as well; Lup pulls her forward into the dark house. 

They pause at the bottom of the stairs, Lucretia silently wondering whose room. Her room in Merle's home has a narrow single bed, but will Lup’s big shared room be empty? Does she mind? 

Avoiding that thought, she kisses Lup again, pushing her against the wall with a thump. Lup shushes, but giggling. Lucretia pushes up Lup’s shirt, too impatient to undo buttons; she cups Lup’s breasts — no bra, that's familiar — and tips her head to kiss them. She takes one nipple into her mouth, rolls her tongue over it, and Lup gasps. She caresses and kisses Lup's breasts, her breastbone, her ribs, her belly. She unzips Lup’s pants and Lup draws in a sharp breath as Lucretia pulls down pants and panties. 

“Lucretia! Here?”

But Lucretia just falls to her knees, kisses her pubic mound. Her hair is neatly trimmed into a heart and a little laugh escapes Lucretia, who leans back and looks up at Lup: her shirt askew, her hair missed, one ear twitching as she chews on her lower lip. 

“I want you, Lup. I've always — and I know I'm not the one” — Lup shakes her head, but Lucretia just touches her thigh — “but I always hoped there was….” She sighs, then simply leans forward and lays her tongue flat on Lup's clit. Lup pushes her hips up from the wall, pushes into Lucretia's mouth and Lucretia laughs, sucks, laps at Lup, breathes in that hot rich scent. She grabs Lup's hips with both hands, pulling her closer; she lavishes Lup with her tongue until Lup babbles at her, barely coherent.

“Babe babe babe we gotta go upstairs, we're gonna wake, I'm gonna, please babe please —”

And that just drives Lucretia wild, she wants more, she wants it, she wants to feel everything, to feel Lup’s ecstasy again after so long. She murmurs a little spell and an eerie silence envelopes them, though when she looks up Lup is still moaning and babbling, her face screwed up with lust. 

Lucretia smiles. Lup is coming unraveled under her tongue, on her mouth, she can't hear Lup's cries but she can  _ feel  _ them, she can feel something thought lost and never to be reclaimed. She licks and she sucks and her face is dripping and Lup is thrusting hard against her. Lup is coming on her mouth and she feels a deep pulse in her own cunt like she might actually come from making Lup come and finally Lup is pushing her head away, tapping her shoulders frantically. Lucretia looks up and there are tears at the corners of Lup's eyes. 

Lup pulls her up — she'd forgotten how strong Lup is — and kisses her, hard, then runs her hands through Lucretia's hair. Then, lightly, playfully, she pushes Lucretia away, towards the stairs as she pulls up her pants. 

Then Lup bounds past, up the stairs two at a time, as if re-energized by her orgasm, and down the hall and into her room, Lucretia following. 

“Oh,” says Lup. 

Lucretia, coming in behind her, says, “Barry.”

He looks up. “Lucretia.” He's sitting in an armchair in the corner, a book open on his lap, a soft Light spell suspended above him. 

“I should….” She's self-conscious, of his wife's scent on her mouth, of standing in the room they share, of time past and how now after more than a hundred years, she and Barry look like they're the same age. 

Lup drags her by the hand into the room. 

“You don't mind, do you Bear?”

The laugh lines at the corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiles fondly. He stands. Lup kisses his cheek. 

“I don't…. It's your…. I mean….” Lucretia tries to stammer out an apology, to back out of the situation, something. He takes her hand. 

“Don't worry about me, Luce.” He looks at Lup, smile deepening. And then he looks at Lucretia again; his smile changes, but not how she would have figured. It's almost shy, and his cheeks are pink in the dim light. 

“Oh,” she says. Her gaze shifts to Lup, whose smile is uncannily similar. Couples end up looking alike, she thinks. 

Lup smiles, sure, but she gives him a little shake of her head. 

“I was kinda —”

“No of course dear —”

“I mean maybe if —”

“I'll turn on the Zone of Silence, and you enjoy yourself,” and he kisses her on the forehead, lets go of Lucretia's hand, and then it's just her and Lup alone together in a room with a bed for the first time since…. 

“Well.”

Lup grins. “That's a deep subject.” She starts walking Lucretia back to the bed, her hands on Lucretia's hips. 

Lucretia sits on the edge of the bed and looks up at Lup. She's almost sober now, and very self-conscious. Lup reaches to pull up Lucretia's tunic, but Lucretia has her arms folded over her chest.

“I'm old, Lu. I don't look…”

“Seriously, girl.” She leans over and kisses her cheek, then pulls up her tunic from the back. “Told you, nerd humans: hot. Especially with a little…” She takes a deep breath, as if savoring Lucretia. She runs her hands up Lucretia's back, pausing over little nicks and scars, stopping to unhook her bra, then pulling the tunic off and throwing it across the room. 

“Let's see those pretty saggy titties, Lu.”

Lucretia lets out a huff of breath and lets her arms fall to her sides. Lup cups her breasts, runs thumbs over Lucretia's nipples. 

“They're so  _ soft _ , Lucy-lu, so  _ nice _ . I could touch them all day.” Lucretia sighs, arcing up into Lup's hands. “It's a damn crime you hide ‘em under all those layers and robes. A crime, I tell ya.” She pushes Lucretia’s shoulder with one hand and Lucretia flops back against the bed. Lucretia props herself up on her elbows and watches as Lup undresses, first slowly unbuttoning her shirt, then shimmying out of her jeans and panties. Lucretia sucks in a breath at the sight of her like this, naked, her hands on her hips, smiling, long hair in streaked colors framing one side of her face. 

It's more than she deserves. 

“Lup, I can't —”

“If the next words out of that gorgeous mouth aren't ‘wait until you jump my bones’, then I don't want to hear it,” Lup says, somehow both playful and terribly serious. Then she slides off Lucretia's shoes one at a time, chucking them off into a corner, leans over and lifts Lucretia's hips, tugging down her leggings, maybe a little awkwardly, but without a pause or a word. Those she tosses in the general direction of the armchair. Lucretia shivers when Lup’s hair brushes her legs. 

Lup climbs onto the bed and straddles Lucretia. She rests her forehead against Lucretia's. 

“Look, babe. I've got a type.” She sits up, counting on her fingers as she talks. “Nerds. Shy nerds. Shy human nerds. And now, I guess I know one more thing….” She touches the little frown lines between Lucretia's eyebrows. “Shy human nerds with a few years on ‘em.” She leans forward again, kisses the same spot she'd just touched. Lucretia's eyes fall shut and she savors the feel of Lup’s lips on her forehead, Lup's hair brushing her cheek, the weight of Lup’s body on her thighs. 

“And we talked about that other stuff already, yeah? So I'm done with it. We're good, you and me. I want you, Lucretia.” She sits back again, takes Lucretia's chin in one hand, lazily traces around her nipple with the other. “Look at me?”

Lucretia opens her eyes, taking in the sight of Lup completely focused on her. 

Lup asks, “You want me?” Lucretia nods. “You miss me?” Again Lucretia nods. Lup scoots backwards, climbs between Lucretia's legs, pushes her knees up, and Lucretia whines in anticipation. “You miss  _ this _ , babe?”

“Yes, oh gods yes, Lup.” Lup, between her legs, hands on the backs of her thighs, Lup smiles and licks her lips. 

“Come here, that's my girl,” she murmurs, and Lucretia arcs her hips toward Lup's waiting mouth. Lup lowers herself, slowly, slowly, agonizing slow, her hands running down Lucretia’s thighs, almost but not quite ticklish, and Lucretia can feel Lup’s breath on her, hot, hotter than her hands. She moans Lup’s name. It’s been  _ so long _ , and she can’t entirely believe — but then Lup’s mouth is on her, Lup’s tongue licking a long stroke up her lips, Lup’s lips kissing her clit, sucking, tugging at her. Lup rolls her tongue over Lucretia’s clit, and Lucretia groans with the delicious agony of it.

More, she cries out for more, and Lup obliges, laughing into Lucretia’s cunt as she shifts position, slides in one finger then another. She pulls back with a wet smack, still chuckling.

“Babe. Babe babe babe. You really did miss me, didn’t you?” And without waiting for an answer, Lup fucks Lucretia with her hand and her mouth, stroking her steadily, until Lucretia forgets where she is, what world, what year, whose bed: only Lup on her and in her, wished for, almost forgotten, never thought to be again. She calls out Lup’s name over and over.

It's not that she sees stars so much as that she  _ is  _ stars as she clenches around Lup’s fingers, throbs in Lup’s mouth. She comes in waves, small at first, not entirely sure —  _ is this it? am I really?  _ — and then stronger, and again, building until she feels herself unravel in shining threads. 

As it ebbs away, Lucretia drops her hips and sighs. Lup stops moving, just letting her hands and mouth be still for a moment before withdrawing. Lucretia makes a soft moaning sound as Lup crawls over and flops beside her. 

“Lup,” she says, her voice rough and reverent, “that was….” She sighs again. “God tier. Truly.”

Lup curls up against Lucretia, resting a hand on her belly. 

“Had a lot of time to think, babe. Spent some of it….” She shrugs against Lucretia's shoulder. Perhaps another time the confession of sorts would make Lucretia anxious, regretful, but she's still half-floating, and Lup's tone is so gentle. She turns towards Lup and they touch foreheads. 

//

She wakes up curled up against Lup, not intertwined but touching. Lup's breathing is slow and steady, and Lucretia savors the rare experience of watching Lup sleep. She stretches a little, not wanting to break that moment, and feels a warm hand on her back. 

Barry walks around the bed and gets in on the other side of Lup. 

“Thank you,” he says. “She, uh, yeah.” He gazes at Lup with a small soft smile. “Yeah. Means a lot to her, you know?” He glances at Lucretia. “I mean you're welcome to come over for dinner sometime, if you….”

Lucretia chuckles. “Barold J. Bluejeans, are you trying to proposition me while I'm laying in bed with your wife?”

“Uh, I mean….”

“Oh, he'd  _ very much  _ like to proposition you,” says Lup, pressing up against him, her eyes still closed. “Wouldn't you, babe?” She twists around and gives him a long searching look, touching his flushed cheeks, before looking back over her shoulder at Lucretia.

“Lu, babe, you mind if I…?”

“Lup, dear, I don’t know if Lucretia —” She puts a hand over his mouth as she waits for Lucretia’s answer. He’s blushing, his face buried in her shoulder. They’re so good together, and for so long that very fact tore her up. Now, though? She smiles, nods, and Lup starts pulling off Barry’s pajamas. They’re wrapped around each other, kissing frantically, and Lucretia touches Lup’s shoulder.

“Yeah babe?”

Lucretia looks at Barry, then back at Lup.

“How about you turn this way?” she says.

“Oh, that’s….” Lup twists around again, lunges forward to kiss Lucretia. “That’s fucking brilliant, girl. I knew I missed you for a reason.”

The three of them wordlessly arrange themselves and Barry starts slowly fucking Lup from behind while Lup and Lucretia kiss. Then Lucretia slides a hand down and begins to stroke Lup’s clit; Lup moans into Lucretia’s mouth. She tangles one hand into Lucretia’s hair, and with the other reaches for Lucretia’s cunt. Barry increases his pace, pulling Lucretia even closer with a hand on her hip. He presses his mouth against the back of Lup’s neck, making soft deep grunts as she whines in response. 

Lup starts making the fast breathless sound that precedes her orgasm, and Barry’s mouth is pulled tight in concentration as he thrusts harder, pushing Lup against Lucretia, making Lup fuck her harder with two fingers. Lucretia pushes back, and Barry gives a little shout of pleasure:  _ her _ name, in his gruff voice, as Lup whispers it too, low and thready, and just that sends her over the edge, which seems to set off Lup, the two of them moving their hands in the same rhythm, their breath gasping in unison.

Barry groans at that, his hand slipping from Lucretia’s hip to Lup’s, his fingers digging in as she fucks him through her orgasm.

“Lup, I’m….”

“Yeah babe, I got you,” she murmurs little encouragements as he comes, then lays his sweaty forehead on the back of her head. After a moment, she pulls off of him and lays on her back.

“Prestidigitation is nice and all,” she says, “but I need an honest-to-Pan shower.”

She kisses Lucretia again, closed-mouth but lingering.

“Thanks babe, for real. That was….” She sighs dramatically, then winks, before clambering over Barry and out of bed, leaving Barry and Lucretia alone. In bed. Together.

“We should talk, I suppose,” Lucretia says, pulling the sheet up around her. 

“I guess,” he replies. “I mean, you know, uh, I wasn't, I didn't necessarily mean…when I said you were welcome to come over, um, for dinner?”

“Fair.” She smiles. “I'd like that, honestly, even if it is just dinner.”

He laughs, sits up. The sheet falls off his chest and belly, pooling in his lap. 

“I'm gonna hop in,” he says. “Coming with?”

She considers the long night, the soft bed, a day with no plans for once. 

“Think I'll catch a little more shut-eye,” she says, and sinks back down into the pillows. He leans forward and kisses the top of her head. 

“Take as long as you need,” he says. She's asleep again before he's crossed the room.

//

When she wakes, the sun has arced across the room, midday light falling over the bed and the armchair. The room is empty. Her clothes are folded on the chest at the foot of the bed, her robe draped over them. Someone must have gone into her room to get it. 

The window is open just a crack, and a mild breeze stirs the curtains. Far off in the distance, she can hear people, and the ocean: her family at peace and at play. She fluffs the pillows and smooths the cover on the bed. For a second, as she snaps the pillowcase to seat it more sharply, she can smell them both. Then: this is only their bed for this vacation, just a guest room at Merle’s, she realizes, wondering what their bedroom looks like in their own home, what it would be like to be there amongst their own things. She sighs and heads for the shower.

The soap is the oddly earthy stuff that Merle stocks, but the shampoo is a fancy little bottle and it smells like Lup. She rubs it into her scalp and tries not to think too much about what might be next. She thinks it could be good. It would be nice if that were so.

Under her robe, on top of of her clothes, is a neatly folded note. In Lup’s sprawling hand:  _ Thanks for a great night _ . Followed by Barry’s chicken scratch:  _ Dinner soon? _ Back to Lup’s handwriting, then:  _ Both of you!  _ underlined, and a little heart with a smiley face and their initials. She folds it and tucks it into the pocket of her robe before picking up her clothes and shoes and peering out into the hall.

It’s not that she’s embarrassed, exactly. But there are conversations she’d rather not have, and people she’d rather not have those conversations with. So she’s cautious, leaving Barry and Lup’s room in her robe carrying last night’s clothes. The hall’s empty, so she steps out.

And immediately hears a creaking behind her, a door followed by a footstep followed by a deep chuckle. She spins around.

Magnus’s smile is as sheepish as her own as he leaves Taako and Kravitz’s guest room, a towel wrapped around his waist. Her smile turns into a smirk.

“Hey,” he says.

“So how was dinner?” she asks.

“Turned out alright. How was karaoke? Other than, y’know?” He wiggles his eyebrows at her as he gestures at the door behind her.

“It was nice,” she says. “I should go out more often.”

“Fuck yeah.” He raises a hand for a high five. She raises an eyebrow. He huffs a sigh. “Aw, you’re no fun.”

Her smile deepens. “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

He smothers her in a hug. With his face in her curly hair, he says, “I'm so glad for you, Luce.” He pauses. “So…. Did they ask about me?”

She pulls away and looks at him. “Greedy boy. Go put some pants on.”

“That wasn't a no….”

She laughs. “We'll see. You know, like the old days, play it by ear.”

He makes a thoughtful noise. “Like the old days.”

“Something like that.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This would not have come together this after (after more than four months!) if it were not for hops, partially for writing her own blupcretia, partially for just helping me work through my Barry Issues.


End file.
